Redmond O'Neal Plans to Move Forward, Clean and Sober

After being in drug treatment for over a year, Redmond O’Neal has graduated to a new phase of his life – literally.

The son of actors Ryan O’Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett graduated Thursday from an intensive drug-court program, and received a hug from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan.

“My plan is to move forward with my life, clean and sober,” O’Neal, 25, said in a statement released to PEOPLE through his lawyer Richard Pintal. “I am going to do so privately and with as much quiet dignity as I can.”

O’Neal had been undergoing intensive court-ordered treatment following a number of drug-related arrests. He briefly spoke to a crowded courtroom filled with friends and family of graduates, saying he was nervous to speak at the podium, but said, “Thank you to everyone in this courtroom who’s helped me out.”

Addressing the more than a dozen graduates, Judge Tynan said, “This is the fight for the rest of your life.”